Joey Magidson
James Carville has long fascinated me. Whether it’s his campaign work, as a talking head on MSNBC, or just his personality, there are few like him, and really none in the world of politics. With Carville: Winning is Everything, Stupid, he gets the documentary treatment, so it’s unfiltered Carville for a little over 90 minutes. While the doc is somewhat standard issue, minus one element, the man at the core makes it a film worth seeing.
Carville: Winning is Everything, Stupid captures a distinctive personality at a crucial moment, not just for his party, but also for him. Having him lead a movie with a real ticking clock also helps to give it a different vibe. Knowing how it (almost) ends doesn’t negate any of that, either. Carville is on a crusade and we’re right there with him, while getting some interesting bits of backstory, some of which I did not previously know.
The documentary looks at the life and current times of political strategist James Carville. Specifically, the doc chronicles an eighteen months period during the current election cycle, as the fast-talking consultant looks on from a distinctive vantage point. Carville is all-in on denying Donald Trump a return to the White House, though as things progress, he becomes less and less convinced that Joe Biden is going to be able to achieve that.
While Carville crusades for a Democratic win in 2024, we also learn about his past, from being the mastermind of Bill Clinton‘s 1992 presidential win, to his most recent endeavors, creating a portrait of the man known as the Ragin’ Cajun. Also given major focus is his three decades long marriage to Republican consultant Mary Matalin, defying all manner of logic for the deeply liberal Democrat.
James Carville is captured by director Matt Tyrnauer as very much the big presence that you think he is. The talking heads, who run the gamut from Bill Clinton to George Stephanopoulos, speak so fondly of him, but in honest terms. Tyrnauer doesn’t mess with success there, focusing in on Carville, but the one unique element, besides the man himself, is the ticketing clock of the election. Carville being skeptical about Biden leads us to the very end of the doc, as well as the postscript, which sets us up for where we are right now.
Carville: Wining is Everything, Stupid is a good time for anyone amused by the Ragin’ Cajun. I am, so I was. The flicks works for political junkies as well as for someone who’s just curious about James Carville. 90 minutes or so with him isn’t enough to capture a life, but it is enough to make a quality documentary.
SCORE: ★★★
I’m glad you were able to review this documentary, because I could not stomach ninety minutes of an affectionate cinematic portrait of this guy during this election season.
I find him amusing.
I used to find him amusing, too, until his political instincts atrophied while his ego continued to chug right along with a disgraceful punditocracy that treats his antiquated 90’s-era hot takes as pearls of invaluable wisdom.
His signature career achievement was managing a plurality victory for one of the most charismatic Democratic politicians of the post-New Deal era in a three-way race against a deeply unpopular incumbent and an eccentric weirdo billionaire when I was in kindergarten. The last presidential candidate who fully embraced his Third Way model of appealing to voters was this guy.
Very fair.
[…] The narrative is less about creating a groundbreaking new structure and more about presenting its subject with his characteristic fire and contradictions. Some critics find the format conventional, but argue that Carville himself makes it compelling. (Awards Radar) […]